Bertha - Big Bang Auto [G2]

So this week started off poorly and got worse from there. When you buy chicken, if you buy just one piece, they usually give you a really good piece, right? So using the same logic I bought just one seed, direct from Green House Seeds. Unfortunately if this seed were a piece of chicken, it'd be a wing. Tiny little seed. It took longer to germinate, the size is small, and it's had many problems. The worst of which, at day 7 I noticed that the roots were coming out of the bottom of the coco-husk pot! I did not intend this, and didn't want to leave these pots rotting at the top of the substrate, so I made the decision to transplant. Unfortunately I did damage the roots during the process and I am certain I have shocked the plant. I suspect it will either fail or grow stunted. Time will tell but because of this mistake and the uncertainty around this plant now, I have gone ahead and started off a Super Lemon Haze, please check out and follow that diary. :) Beginners make mistakes, and I am a total beginner, so I am trying not to beat myself up too much.

For various reasons I have had to move the plant into the main tent a bit ahead of schedule. It was moved into the main tent under a 600w HPS on day 8. Since the transplant mistake on day 7 the seedling has made just about zero progress in 4 full days. I think this one has had it. It's got 10 days until it starts flowering (lol). Day 12 and finally some growth. Lost 5 days due to damaging young roots. This will be a small stunted plant.

After two poor weeks this tiny plant is now at least a healthy colour and growing albeit slowly.. i hope this week is transformative for it. Update week day 4: Alright so this little bugger is finally growing. Update Day 6: Growth is accelerating but I am seeing interveinal chlorosis on the new growth, it seems to correct itself with age. Suspected iron deficiency. I will replace my seaweed extract with one fortified with iron and see if this fixes it. I have been reading more about how autoflowers grow and I now understand that it has nothing to do with the age of the plant, it is a combination of size and maturity. For example a very mature (many nodes) plant will flower even if very small, whereas at the other end of the scale a very young plant will flower if it has achieved sufficient growth. The scale seems to slide, so essentially the faster the plant grows in vegetative stage, the quick it switches to flower stage. What that means for this grow, in practice, is that this plant; shocked and stunted by the emergency transplant though it was, has a fighting chance of doing okay - because while it is still small, it is also young. It is possible to have a variance of up to +7 weeks throughout the life of an autoflower depending on many factors, conversely it's possible to achieve up to -3 weeks with everything near perfect. So let us see what happens, I have gone through the ringer with this grow, I was extremely pessimistic last week, but the plant has sort of recovered, it is currently pushing out node five, which is ahead of the KKA 2 days older, only on 4th node. I have looked at a LOT of grows and compared them day by day, I have seen other grows that have gone along the same schedule as mine, and ended up with surprisingly large plants and decent yields Who knows? It sure is fun to find out though!

Start of week 4, roots coming out of pot so have transplanted on day 22 into final pot. Plant is pushing out node five at the moment. Update week 4 day 2: A couple of days ago I dropped the PH to 5.8 from 6.3 and have added in Acti-Vera, a different Seaweed Extract fortified with Iron, and starting today Rhino Skin silica. Just look at the difference in the colouration of this plant in under 48 hours... wow. Update week 4 day 2: I think I've managed to overwater. Not going to water today. Update week 4 day 4. She is showing the same pattern as KKA 2 days ahead. After repot she is stretching out her main fan leaves, stem is thickening, and new growth appears everywhere. Day 25.5 flushed with 30l of PH lowered water then fertigated with 5l. Day 26: Height: 9cm Width: 18cm Nodes: 6 I have named her Bertha Day 27: H9.5 W19.5 N7 Day 28: Fertigated 2.5l @ 15:00 . Day 28: Photo and Measure 00:40 H13cm W21cm N7 Weekly growth data: From 6cm Height to 13cm +117% From 9cm Width to 21cm +133% From 4 primary nodes to 7 +75% Summary: Really good week for Bertha, she hasn't grown at quite the same rate as Karen, but she's not a million miles behind, I think she will have a big week 5. Day 28.5: I have changed my mind about training and done a little gentle LST. Why? Well I realised I would have trouble with light levels and the younger plants... so I've decided to try and keep the older two from stretching too tall. I realise this will mess up height measurements but it'll even out.

Hello and welcome to the start of week 5 for Bertha. She had LST performed on her about 12 hours ago and has already responded. Day 30: Fertigated with 2l @ 16:00 Day 30: Okay so I have finally noticed that Bertha is suffering from a Nitrogen abundance, I should have noticed this sooner but I have been so focused on Karen and her "chlorosis" (which I am beginning to think is actually just her phenotype). I now have a problem, this clearly demonstrates my experiment with the slow release has failed, so I have two options: 1) Flush with PH balanced water and stop feeding altogether and see how she does. 2) Take her out of the medium she is in and repot into medium without slow release, I do not know which to do. If she is struggling with the nitrogen now it will be unbearable during flower. Day 30: I decided to repot, so I took her out carefully, emptied the pot and replaced with new coco/perlite without any slow release (except whatever is left in the root clump). I know she won't like the shock of having her roots messed with (again) but I feel I had no choice. I will be watering with PH balanced water only for a few days and let us see how she responds. Looking back on last week now it seems so obvious, she started showing nitrogen abundance 24 hours after replanting. Oh well, I know I will spot this sooner in future, one more piece of experience gained. @ 01:00 Day 30: Performed further LST @ 02:00 Day 31: Photo at 14:00 just before lights on. The wilting is normal. However Bertha is really not happy. I am kicking myself for not noticing the nitrogen excess earlier, after all the other problems she has had I am not expecting much at all from her. We will see this week if she recovers, if not I am not wasting anymore time on her, she will be pulled and replaced. Day 33: PH adjusted water 2.5l @ 14:30 Day 33: Performed further LST. Day 33: Bertha not responding yet to Media change. She is still stretching but little vegetative growth. The bellwether plants are showing some N deficiency, so I will fertigate gently tomorrow. Day 34: Bud sites developing. Tiny weak plant. I am not hopeful for her at all. Week summary: She is small and weak but still growing. It has been a very disappointing week. It is any wonder she is even alive after all the mistakes.

Bertha is the weakest of my six plants. Final LST done day 36. Day 37: More of the same. Bertha's days are numbered. Day 39: I've just about had enough. This plant has been utterly disappointing. Day 40: Almost pulled her yesterday. However until or unless I desperately need the space I've decided to let her trundle along. I think <10g is the potential yield at this point. However I've been surprised before. In my first grow I had bare sticks that yielded 60 and 70g dry so who knows? Day 41: Slight smell. Smells good... Bertha has a reprieve. Day 42: End of the week for tiny Bertha she's fully flowering for sure but not much is happening. I might drop down to weekly updates for this lady, I am less and less interested in her. Looking back on this grow, I predicted in week 1 (day 7) that she would be stunted, so I do not know why I have allowed myself any anxiety around this grow. The only reason that I had some encouragement was because Karen recovered so well, but I did not damage Karen's roots on day 7... really of all the various mistakes in this grow, that was the one that was most impactful. With that said, I do think I was sent a runty little seed. Anyway, I am calm about Bertha now... she will do what she will do. My only slight irritation is that she is in a 40l pot and she would probably be fine in a 10l pot. I have space for 3 more big pots... I have two Auto Purple OG Punch germinating (fingers crossed), and they will get a pot each and the final pot will contain some new F1 seeds from Royal Queen Seeds. So Bertha is safe, I am already growing more plants than I planned to and I have to stop somewhere or I will end up with plants coming out of my ears.

I've dropped to weekly updates on Bertha as a stunted plant she doesn't hold much interest for me, she is only alive because I am not desperate for the space. Here she is on day 49 end of week 7. I will take multiple photos and a video once a week until she is chopped.

Day 50: Some upgrades to the grow space today. Installed a much better reflector, much bigger carbon filter and I have re-configured the grow space.. The two main effects of this are Increased airflow ands a more even light distribution. Bertha's smell is really interesting. Day 51: 48h into a "dry spell" I'm simulating. Day 51.5: Performed some gentle LST to separate out the tiny colas. I have started doing more updates again on Bertha because there are things I am doing that I should record. She's tiny but the smell is quite wonderful. Maybe I'll get 10g off her? Who knows! Let's find out. Day 52: Broke the drought. Fertigated approx 4l. Day 55: Fertigated 5l. Day 56: Flushed with 30l PH & CalMag.

Hey all, welcome to week 9. Bertha is ticking along. Slowly growing in size and maturity. I'll update a few times this week. Buds are starting to fatten up. Day 59... Bertha has barely changed... but I feel bad for this poor unentertaining diary, so I decided to photograph some of the not-cannabis plants in my little garden. Enjoy! Day 60: Smell is fruity like sweets. Fertigated 3l. Day 62: Fertigated 3.5l Day 63. End of Week Summary: Quite a lot of changes this week. Buds have fattened a lot. Smell is strong now. She's grown more than I realised in these last two weeks.

Hello and welcome to week 10 for poor Bertha. She has had a rough ride and is an anomalous plant but somewhat interesting nevertheless. Day 66: Bertha has three distinct areas of maturity. The tip is the most mature the cola nearest the base is youngest. Everything in between is in between. I will likely have to harvest this plant in parts. The buds are not so much fattening up anymore as they foxtailing. She's not in great shape bless her. Still... the frost levels are off the charts and the smell is so so nice. i would say 90% bud trichs cloudy on oldest buds. Day 68: I have adjusted the timer such that the main tent is now getting 20/4 upped from 18/6. After monitoring DLI at 18/6 for a week I am unhappy with the overall level but because of the varying heights of the plants I am limited in what I can do in adjusting the light height. Some areas were only getting 20 DLI. So I have rearranged to have the taller plants on the edges and the lowest in the middle and doing it this way all plants are getting between 35 and 50 DLI at 20/4 - although one or two cola tips here and there are getting 55. Will monitor for a week. Day 69: Fertigated 8l Day 70: More foxtailing and more progress. Bertha is not far away. Unsure whether to harvest in parts. End of week summary: Bertha is ticking along slowly but surely. Not much to report that you cannot see for yourself.

Hello and welcome to Bertha's final week! Big news! On day 72 aka today.... ... ... Bertha was pulled! I need the space now and shes not maturing properly, foxtailing and no further development except brown pistils. Trichomes 5% amber on oldest colas. Harvest report when dried. I haven't weighed wet as it's too awkward.

So you've all seen the problems with this grow. The buds are all foxtails every one of them. Despite that she somehow managed to bring a decent yield. The smell is still the same, sweet and lovely.